Goodman: A look at Amador's leadership at Alma d'arte
Embattled Alma d’arte Principal Adam Amador says he’s been in eight school districts in the past 12 years. Is that good or bad?
In Amador’s defense: he rose from a difficult childhood, including some ethnic prejudice, to earn a doctorate in education from New Mexico State University; Alma had experienced years of difficulties before he arrived last year; and he’s improved the art program, I’m told.
However …
Kids, parents, teachers, co-workers, and even a board member say he threatened or tried to bully them. Many claim Amador retaliated against them over even small differences. Amador has banned parents and former teachers from the school grounds. (A coworker in Lordsburg said Amador tried to ban her from his elementary school, before the superintendent told him he couldn’t.) Some workers have filed legal complaints and some families have consulted lawyers. Former board member Cynthia Wise characterized Alma’s environment under Amador as “Dictatorial. And hostile.”
For a year, Michele Trujillo has sought from Alma a special education plan for her diagnosed son. She so testified to the New Mexico Public Education Commission. Recently, she said, Amador removed her son from class to a private area where an unidentified woman asked him whether his parents drank, or hit him, and other intrusive questions. Now he’s more scared to go to school. Amador won’t say why. He won’t even identify the woman. Trujillo has filed a grievance.
Teacher Kayla Myers, now with New America School, taught social studies at Alma d’arte. She worked with students on a state “Innovative Zone” grant that required student input. The students most wanted a social worker or psychologist. Some mental health professional. Students helped her write the grant and present it. They won the entire $200,000 grant, which was to hire a mental health professional, keep Myers at Alma, and help fund other needs. What a thrill that must have been for the students!
Amador vetoed the plan, for reasons unknown. Because it wasn’t his? Myers kept trying to discuss with him her employment situation. Amador kept ducking her, not returning calls. (Another source describes Amador and his assistant seeing Myers outside, hoping she wouldn’t come in, then Amador going into his office, to which Myers wouldn’t be admitted.) That stalling forced her to take a different job. “He ghosted me out of my job.” Leaving the kids she loved “broke my soul.”
One of her students was Malachi. He wanted the mental health pro, knowing he was often depressed. After Amador’s veto, Malachi told Myers it confirmed that adults just wouldn’t listen. “My voice doesn’t matter,” Myers quoted Malachi as saying. His mother has publicly blamed Amador for Malachi’s suicide, saying that Amador has bullied Malachi’s brother since. Alma still has no mental health pro. Amador reportedly banned Myers from Malachi’s vigil.
Early in my research, I visited Amador. (Without first advising me, he taped our conversation.) More recently, having learned more, I hoped to ask about parents’ specific complaints. My several messages were ignored.
Many question Amador’s commitment to truth-telling. Carlsbad High paid a $50,000 settlement to a parent who claimed Amador had defamed her. (To save space, I’ve moved details to my Sunday blog post.) I’ve observed or heard of an unusual number of situations where his account of something completely contradicts someone else’s. One recent example was startling.
Bottom line? Sadly, I’d bet on Amador to exacerbate Alma’s difficulties and earn some parents and former Alma teachers some financial compensation.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Goodman: A look at Amador's leadership at Alma d'arte
